On the train back to Cardiff tonight I completed another SolidWorks tutorial successfully. I am beginning to really like using the software and replicating products in CAD as part of the design process. This is something I will continue to build on by doing these tutorials till I have strengthened my skills in SolidWorks.

This morning I completed tutorial 2 in SolidWorks, I am beginning to enjoy using the software more so than SolidEdge last term. This tutorial included making another part and assembling it to the tutorial 1 part. After mating the two I had to go back into tutorial 1 and edit the fillet as the two were different measurements.

This morning in CAD Martijn demonstrated how to make a negative mould for CNC manufacture from a positive CAD model in SolidWorks. This seemed rather easy to do as I am finding with most features in the software, but I will see when I come to do it myself. He also showed how its so important to plan both how you are going to make your CAD model and also the manufacturing process. As sometimes its not possible to machine some items due to complex shapes or lack of support from material, so its always important to plan! After Martijn finished the tutorial I went on to successfully complete one myself from SolidWorks built in tutorials.

This week in CAD Martijn demonstrated exploded views and rendering within SolidWorks. With what he showed these two exercises looked really easy to apply and add great effect to a CAD model. I did not manage to complete the hair dryer task as I only got the software working last week. However I did complete the top section and attempted to create the handle but wasn’t successful with this part. I plan on using the tutorials in SolidWorks over the next coming weeks to build my skills within the software.

This morning the Masters student Martijn Gommeren started a 4 week workshop on the 3D CAD software ‘Solid Works’. He started off with introducing his past education and the skills that he has developed already throughout university. Then demonstrating how CAD fits into the product design process and that its not a creativity or designing tool, only one to show full detail of prototypes or models. He also introduced to us the rules of technical drawings and how they can assist with the CAD and manufacturing process. We also had a go at doing a technical drawing and I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise and in some spare time in the future I hope to improve it. Martijn finished off with showing some basic skills in Solid Works and quick ways to produce objects and shapes. He has set a task for next week to complete a hair drier from a 2D sketch.

This week in CAD Mike’s task for us to complete was a coil spring using the Helix tool. I found this task easy and managed to complete it quickly first time. Although it puzzled me to why the example on the tutorial had a bigger space between each coil, looking like a car suspension spring, where as mine was squashed and touching. I later figured this out to be because I had made a line to short making it looked wrong which I corrected in the right-hand image below. Mike also set a challenge for next week to start using ‘KeyShot’ and experiment with it to render CAD images.